The present disclosure relates to heat exchangers and, more particularly, to an additive manufactured heat exchanger for a gas turbine engine.
Gas turbine engines, such as those that power modern commercial and military aircraft, typically include a ducted heat exchanger system with a heat exchanger and associated equipment to exchange engine heat with an airflow. The gas turbine engine architecture typically dictates the ducted heat exchanger placement within a nacelle that encloses the engine.
Conventional heat exchanger cores, have uniform internal and external geometries due in part to the complexity of manufacture. Although effective, the heat exchanger may be subject to local stress concentrations or other structural requirements that drive increases in thickness or material changes for the entire heat exchanger. This results in increased weight and cost for the TMS. The heat exchanger is also typically constructed of dissimilar metals that expand at differing rates when exposed to varying thermal boundary conditions typical of a gas turbine engine environment that may further limit the life of the heat exchanger.
Ducted heat exchangers also utilize an inlet flow guide and an exit flow guide within the nacelle that is aerodynamically contoured to distribute the air onto the heat exchanger. Manufacturing techniques utilized for these surfaces may not always be conducive to an optimized aerodynamic geometry and may impact ideal nacelle aerodynamic design. This may result in an engine performance debit.